Everyday Is A Winding Road
by Chelsea Oz
Summary: Here's a fun little one shot for you! Diane and Cliff have an embarrassing night despite Carla's absence and through both of their episodes, Sam's good guy side shows up.


The bar was usually calm on Tuesday nights for a good reason: Carla Tortelli had the night off. Carla not being there was a sigh of relief due to the fact no one had to endure her zingers but people couldn't help but miss her at the same time. She was one of those people who seemed to light up the place with her darkness; one couldn't help but have a good laugh at her corrupt and a lot of times hurtful truths. Diane Chambers was definitely one of those people who was lost without her nagging.

"Call me crazy, Coach," Diane said to her friend, Ernie "Coach Pantusso", as he was finishing up table six's drink orders. "But I miss Carla."

"You're not the only one, honey," he said as he placed a pina colada on her tray.

"Yeah," Cliff Clavin piped up. "I miss her, too."

"Really Clifford?" Diane asked, somewhat stunned. Cliff was tied with herself as Carla's number one target.

"Yeah, with every bullet so far!"

The whole bar got a laugh out of that one. Cliff was a goofy guy who came up with goofy and a lot of untrue trivia facts. It was rather refreshing to hear the guys laugh with him instead of at him. That was until Norm Peterson had to chime in...

"Carla, what are you doing here?" He asked which caused Cliff to run for the hills-or at least Sam's office.

"Cliff!" Sam exclaimed at his customer and friend as he walked out of the office. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Carla's going to kill me!"

"Oh, Cliff," Sam laughed. "If she hasn't killed ya yet, she ain't gonna. Besides, you oughta know by now that Norm's kidding with you."

"One day he won't be joking though."

"Well not tonight," Sam said as he took Cliff by the shoulder and lead him back to the barstool. "Come on, I'll give you a beer on the house."

"Oh, thanks Sammy," Cliff said, very appreciative of the kind gesture.

"What about me, Sammy?" Norm asked. "Can you hit an unemployed guy up?"

"Full price for you, Norm. Shouldn't have scared the poor fella like that."

"If I'm a saint for the rest of the night, can I get one tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Sam said as he handed Cliff his pity beer.

"Thanks again," Cliff said.

"No problem," Sam replied.

Sam turned around and spotted Diane coming over to the bar to place another order. He didn't know why he looked at her shirt but he was glad he did. He noticed that a button had popped off in the middle breast part of her blouse and she was exposing herself a little bit. He went over to her to try to help her before anyone gave her business about it.

"Step into my office," Sam whispered in her ear.

"Am I trouble?"

"You might be. Come with me."

Sam took her by the hand and Diane gulped a bit because she didn't know what this was about. She found it strange that he was standing in front of her like he was trying to protect her.

"What's the matter?" Diane asked when they finally arrived in his office.

"Don't show your cleavage," Sam replied.

"What?! Sam Malone!"

"You lost a button, sweetheart."

She looked down at her shirt and let out a gasp. She hadn't noticed anything unusual about her shirt and leave it to Sam Malone to notice. Diane started to turn red in the face with embarrassment and she was ready to shed a few tears. Was she really embarrassed by the shirt or Sam Malone? She didn't know.

"Here," Sam said as he put his Red Sox coat around her. "Don't tell Carla. She would kill me to hear that you wore this."

"Oh, Sam," Diane said almost breathlessly. She guessed he could be a good guy after all.

"I'll warn the guys not to say anything," Sam said. "We'll just tell them you got chilly."

"I don't know what to say, Sam."

"'Thank you' would be nice."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome and I don't want to hear a word about this, okay?"

"Okay."

With a swallowing of pride, Diane walked out of the office in Sam's coat. The regulars sure enough stared at her with gaped mouths.

"I got chilly and Sam was kind enough to lend me his coat," Diane confidently informed them.

"Oh, sure," Cliff and Norm said in unison.

"Good ole' Sam," Coach said as he handed Diane a couple of drafts. "For the back room, honey."

"Thank you," Diane said with a smile before she walked away. That was when Sam walked out of the bar and once again the regulars stared with gaped mouths.

"Sammy," Norm whispered. "You seriously let a girl wear your Red Sox Coat?"

"No, I let a female employee wear my coat."

"Female employee?" Norm asked. "I think you've been hanging around Diane too long."

"You think that's a bad thing?"

"No," Norm replied backing off.

"You just don't want to lose your free beer tomorrow night, right?"

"Damn it, Sam! You've been hanging out with me too long!"

"That's what I thought."


End file.
